The XT-1 is basically what I would love to see Pentax do. Mirrorless with an excellent EVF. APS-C would be just fine but FF would be even better.

I keep telling myself to wait and see what Pentax comes out with this year. Am I in for a good surprise or am I missing the Fuji boat?

For reference I have a K-5, K-01, Q, AND Fuji X100. I love Pentax, and feel like waiting to see what is in store this year but the XT-1 is darn near perfect.

Thoughts? Friendly advice or rumors of what this year may bring for Pentaxians?

Already talked about it here thousands of times.All K-mount lenses would be wasted then and new lenses made for a new mirrorless mount.Pentax will never do that.

On the other hand, a proposition you ask for offers an ultimate irony; for Fujifilm clearly wanted a camera that looks like a DSLR and handles like one, (and no doubt, that sells like a DSLR) and you want a mirrorless camera that doesn't act like a DSLR and doesn't use existing lenses.

Let's leave this aside as no agreeable conclusion is possible. Let Pentax do what Pentax does best, and let Fujifilm continue whatever suits them.

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Zvonimir Tosic

“A portrait is not made in the camera, but on either side of it.”— Edward Steichen

Well I doubt it's going to be a mirrorless APS-C. It's either going to be a full frame DSLR or maybe full frame mirrorless.

I cannot imagine a new lens mount to support unless they scaled back to Q to only be for Asia (the Q doesn't seem to sell well anywhere else).

I don't believe they have enough reosurces for multiple lens mounts. They struggle bringing new lenses to market as it is. I'm a pretty loyal Pentaxian but new lenses are not a strength of Pentax/Ricoh, atleast not historically.

The XT-1 is basically what I would love to see Pentax do. Mirrorless with an excellent EVF. APS-C would be just fine but FF would be even better.

I keep telling myself to wait and see what Pentax comes out with this year. Am I in for a good surprise or am I missing the Fuji boat?

For reference I have a K-5, K-01, Q, AND Fuji X100. I love Pentax, and feel like waiting to see what is in store this year but the XT-1 is darn near perfect.

Thoughts? Friendly advice or rumors of what this year may bring for Pentaxians?

Already talked about it here thousands of times.All K-mount lenses would be wasted then and new lenses made for a new mirrorless mount.Pentax will never do that.

On the other hand, a proposition you ask for offers an ultimate irony; for Fujifilm clearly wanted a camera that looks like a DSLR and handles like one, (and no doubt, that sells like a DSLR) and you want a mirrorless camera that doesn't act like a DSLR and doesn't use existing lenses.

Let's leave this aside as no agreeable conclusion is possible. Let Pentax do what Pentax does best, and let Fujifilm continue whatever suits them.

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Zvonimir Tosic

“A portrait is not made in the camera, but on either side of it.”— Edward Steichen

I have an X100 and I love it. A bit quirky before the most recent FW upgrade, but still a great camera. And the X-E1/2 and X-Pro 1 are light years ahead in AF/EVF respects.

You mention JPEGs and I will say that while Fuji has excellent JPEGs I get more out of Pentax raw files than I do out of Fuji.

For me it boils down to size and IQ. At the end of the day I am a loyal Pentax user and have been for over 10 years. And the IQ I get from my K-5 and K-01 makes me happy. I Just love the smaller form factor of my X100, and think I personally would like a Pentax that was similar in some respects to the XT-1. I had heard the rumor about an MX like mirrorless coming out one day? That would be the bees knees to me.

Thank you for the insight. FF mirrorless sounds awesome. FF DSL-R would be outstanding, too as I know Pentax would make it somewhat compact and rugged as a tank. Your post gives me hope! (fingers crossed for FF mirrorless)

I obviously haven't seen a Fuji XT1 in the hand or any images yet, but I agree that it seems to offer great design. They've really got a lot right. I will buy a mirror-less camera sooner or later for travel but I'm waiting and watching and sitting on the fence at the moment. All I can say is that there are some very good designs coming out There's probably never been such choice - it's a good time to be a photographer.

Should Pentax offer another mirror-less and should it be like the XT1? I don't know. A lot of people here have debated what they might do, and those threads have covered speculation about staying with APSC DSLRs, going FF in both DSLR and mirror-less, and a few other ideas too. No-one here really knows and Pentax are tight-lipped about their future. Personally I think they'll have to offer APSC and FF in DSLR designs and eventually mirror-less too. They were stung by the K01 experience, but perhaps we'll see them re-enter the mirror-less market later this year - they need something to replace the GXR.

Buy what is available today, and not what is rumored. I like Pentax but at the same time I am glad I didn't wait for them to release what I wanted (would still be waiting).

Fuji has some of the best lenses in the market and a very promising line up. Do they offer today what you want out of the system? All your Pentax lenses can of course be used manually with adapters.

Eric

I've thought about this. Getting a K to X adaptor for the 8 or so k mount lenses I have. Some of them are MF anways. From what I hear the focus peaking on the XT-1 was implemented really well. Definitely a factor in my decision. As others have noted I'm not sure waiting for a similar product from Pentax would be fruitful as I guess the K mount is not suited for a mirrorless with a compact (thin) body (see K-01, which I have and love.)

I obviously haven't seen a Fuji XT1 in the hand or any images yet, but I agree that it seems to offer great design. They've really got a lot right. I will buy a mirror-less camera sooner or later for travel but I'm waiting and watching and sitting on the fence at the moment. All I can say is that there are some very good designs coming out There's probably never been such choice - it's a good time to be a photographer.

Should Pentax offer another mirror-less and should it be like the XT1? I don't know. A lot of people here have debated what they might do, and those threads have covered speculation about staying with APSC DSLRs, going FF in both DSLR and mirror-less, and a few other ideas too. No-one here really knows and Pentax are tight-lipped about their future. Personally I think they'll have to offer APSC and FF in DSLR designs and eventually mirror-less too. They were stung by the K01 experience, but perhaps we'll see them re-enter the mirror-less market later this year - they need something to replace the GXR.

Regards, Rod

It's a shame about the K-01 as I finally got one for a steal and I love it. For some reason I feel I get better results IQ wise than my K-5. I am a big fan of mirrorless, so I'd be interested in any APS-C or FF mirrorless that Pentax might put out (have the Q, too.)

I think part of my posting this and lots of the searching I do online is to figure out if I should stick with what I have or go with Fuji (have the X100 already.) It might be smart to wait until at least Photokina to figure it all out.

dpreview seems to want to compare the Fuji X-T1 to DSLRs like Pentax K-3, and I can see where they are going with that. To some degree it seems a valid comparison. Physically, there is a resemblance. There is even a "mirror housing".

What are the advantages of the Fuji X-T1? First and foremost more compact and nearly half the weight. However, these two advantages will mean less when combined with long or heavy lenses. Combined with small primes it could be a quite light-weight and compact package, but then the mirror housing seems an odd choice that ruin some of the compactness.

And the disadvantages: much poorer viewfinder and probably some small lag.

If you use the comparometer and put the X-T1 next to the K-3, the K-3 seems a much better option - at least to me.

dpreview seems to want to compare the Fuji X-T1 to DSLRs like Pentax K-3, and I can see where they are going with that. To some degree it seems a valid comparison. Physically, there is a resemblance. There is even a "mirror housing".

What are the advantages of the Fuji X-T1? First and foremost more compact and nearly half the weight. However, these two advantages will mean less when combined with long or heavy lenses. Combined with small primes it could be a quite light-weight and compact package, but then the mirror housing seems an odd choice that ruin some of the compactness.

And the disadvantages: much poorer viewfinder and probably some small lag.

If you use the comparometer and put the X-T1 next to the K-3, the K-3 seems a much better option - at least to me.

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Lars H

Great point about how compact advatnage diminishes with larger lenses. I guess I'm basing my Fuji experiance with the fixed lens X-100. XT-1 might be small, sure, but not "pocketable" or even compact with a larger lens. And as much as I like EVFs, it can't really compare to OVF. And I have yet to experiance the K-3's (larger?) viewfinder. Points go to Pentax with this argument.

The XT-1 is basically what I would love to see Pentax do. Mirrorless with an excellent EVF. APS-C would be just fine but FF would be even better.

Why Pentax? They're a traditional SLR brand...

I keep telling myself to wait and see what Pentax comes out with this year. Am I in for a good surprise or am I missing the Fuji boat?

If you're looking for an X-T1, go for it (but you haven't missed the Fuji boat, since it was barely announced)

For reference I have a K-5, K-01, Q, AND Fuji X100. I love Pentax, and feel like waiting to see what is in store this year but the XT-1 is darn near perfect.

Thoughts? Friendly advice or rumors of what this year may bring for Pentaxians?

More DSLR products.

Alex

Good points, but why can't they do both? Neither the Q nor the K-01 look like traditional SLR's to me. This may sound completely absurd, but if Pentax released a Q lookalike with EVF and APS-C or FF sensor I'd be smitten. I do ove the Marc Newson "brick" though.

At the end of the day I get the most control with my K-5, though soooooo.

The XT-1 is basically what I would love to see Pentax do. Mirrorless with an excellent EVF. APS-C would be just fine but FF would be even better.

Why Pentax? They're a traditional SLR brand...

I keep telling myself to wait and see what Pentax comes out with this year. Am I in for a good surprise or am I missing the Fuji boat?

If you're looking for an X-T1, go for it (but you haven't missed the Fuji boat, since it was barely announced)

For reference I have a K-5, K-01, Q, AND Fuji X100. I love Pentax, and feel like waiting to see what is in store this year but the XT-1 is darn near perfect.

Thoughts? Friendly advice or rumors of what this year may bring for Pentaxians?

More DSLR products.

Alex

Good points, but why can't they do both? Neither the Q nor the K-01 look like traditional SLR's to me. This may sound completely absurd, but if Pentax released a Q lookalike with EVF and APS-C or FF sensor I'd be smitten. I do ove the Marc Newson "brick" though.

I don't think they have the capacity to work on the K-mount, and launch a 4th mount (camera plus lenses). They're a small camera manufacturer, yet they have more mounts than any other.

The K-01 is K-mount, and the Q is some short of interchangeable lens compact (they probably outsourced some stuff, e.g the toy lenses to make things easier)

At the end of the day I get the most control with my K-5, though soooooo.

dpreview seems to want to compare the Fuji X-T1 to DSLRs like Pentax K-3, and I can see where they are going with that. To some degree it seems a valid comparison. Physically, there is a resemblance. There is even a "mirror housing".

What are the advantages of the Fuji X-T1? First and foremost more compact and nearly half the weight. However, these two advantages will mean less when combined with long or heavy lenses. Combined with small primes it could be a quite light-weight and compact package, but then the mirror housing seems an odd choice that ruin some of the compactness.

And the disadvantages: much poorer viewfinder and probably some small lag.

If you use the comparometer and put the X-T1 next to the K-3, the K-3 seems a much better option - at least to me.

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Lars H

Great point about how compact advatnage diminishes with larger lenses. I guess I'm basing my Fuji experiance with the fixed lens X-100. XT-1 might be small, sure, but not "pocketable" or even compact with a larger lens. And as much as I like EVFs, it can't really compare to OVF. And I have yet to experiance the K-3's (larger?) viewfinder. Points go to Pentax with this argument.

Another major disadvantage: poor battery capacity. Of course you can compensate for that by adding the optional battery grip, but then the idea of compactness and small size suffers even more. No - I can't exactly see the point of mirrorless in such a package.

Good point. I was amazed at how long the battery in my K-5 lasted when I got it (moving from an Oly EPL-1. And the battery grip does eliminate the advantage of size. I would just opt for carry 2 or 3 spares as I do with my X100. I assume that if you use it EVF only and don't chimp a whole lot the XT-1 battery should do a decent job, but probably not the 900 or so shots I can get with my K-5.

A note on battery capacity - I took a good 450 shots this weekend with my K-01 and the battery was still fine when I got home. Big battery, though.

I own a Q and K7. The Q is so small and probably has one of the most comprehensive controls of any "compact interchangable lens" system out there. The K7, like the K3, is a die-hard design refusing to get rid of the top LCD display which is effectively a digital version of the current in-vogue dials. Combining the two one way or another doesn't seem too far fetched. Making a Q camera with an EVF would answer a quest by many, especially those of us with ageing eyes. On the other hand a K3 with dials would be a DF killer and would be a mirrored alternative to the ever increasing number EVF competition. For one, the battery would last several times longer than the rest! What I don't see is a Pentax KAF-FF-EVF, it would be too mainstream in the current market, which Pentax is not.

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